![Crowdfunding Round-up: East to West and Lair to Nest](https://cf.geekdo-images.com/xT8xwnx_gRUpcX0Hrncyjw__thumb/img/scZINQw6kCN1rdjz44hxxjtrvno=/fit-in/200x150/filters:strip_icc()/pic3005968.png)
• I’ve noticed a trend with real-time games: more often than not they include a reference to their timed nature somewhere in the title. And titles don’t get more on the nose than Dungeon Time, a co-op game from Carlo A. Rossi by way of Ares Games. After their most recent half-million dollar KS campaign for a sprawling dungeon crawl, Ares is looking for success with sand timers. I’m reminded of a Bob Hope quip from 1942’s Road to Morocco, as he and Bing Crosby survey an endless desert: “This must be where they empty all the old hourglasses.” (KS link)
• In Joshua J. Mills’ Rocky Road à la Mode, you are put on the other side of your nostalgic childhood memories: in the pastel-colored driver’s seat of a Good Humor truck, pumping the strains of “Mister Softee” through your rusty loudspeaker and leaving sated kids grinning in your wake. One of my favorite mechanisms is the “time track” (first popularized in Thebes, but more recently evinced in Patchwork) that allows for variable turn order, and it’s put to good — even thematic! — use in Green Couch Games’ sixth release. (KS link)
• The ironic thing about the newest Queen Games project, the dice game Risky Adventure from Anthony Rubbo, is that it’s *not* a risky venture for potential backers. Queen’s production timeline is a well-oiled machine, with a new release falling off the end of the conveyor belt and into distribution every couple of months. The “risk” in the gameplay involves players having to mark the targets of their die rolls beforehand, not unlike the basketball trope of calling your shot. So maybe that means Steph Curry will be really good at it? (KS link)
• Only one more game to go before completists can have a full carton of E•G•G titles from the Eagle-Gryphon Games hatchery. Their current project features the trick-taking game Sluff Off! (known in previous incarnations as Zing, Wizard Extreme, and Die Sieben Siegel) from noted designer Stefan Dorra and the set-collection game Harald from rookie designer Rémi Gruber, as games #9 and #10 in the series, respectively. For the raised eyebrows in the third row, “sluff off” is a trick-taking term meaning to throw off suit, but artist Kwanchai Moriya has worked in some nice visual puns besides. (KS link)
• Mayday Games is establishing their own relationship as a pipeline of titles from Tokyo Game Market to the U.S., this time partnering with nerdy inventor Chih-Fan Chen (of Flip City fame) and Homosapiens Lab for Nerdy Inventions. It’s a dice game with a light steampunk aesthetic, illustrated by the designer himself. You never know when a game’s going to catch on with audiences in a big way, and Mayday is hoping this is their next hit property. (KS link)
• Though the presentation is a bit more dignified than in Homestar Runner, burninating the countryside is a viable option in Whelps to Wyrms. After their sleeper hit Nautilus Industries turned some heads, Lamp Light Games is back with this tile-exploration game from Ricky Perez. Dragons don’t like to share, but this is mostly a “wyvern and let wyvern” affair, with the fiery streak coming from the game-controlled counter attacks. (KS link)
• It’s probably safe to bet that Tim Fowers won’t be absconding with the more than $100K in pledge loot, but that’s what one player is trying to do in his self-published Fugitive. This asymmetric two-player game of bluffing and deduction was inspired by the thematic trappings of his previous design, Burgle Bros. That game’s “Rook” is our titular fugitive here, hounded by a federal marshal who tries to outguess his moves and thwart him at every turn. A debonair charmer with sticky fingers or a lawful good type with a badge; which will you be? (KS link)
• Barely had Millennium Blades been released to the retail market when the game sold out at the distributor level. Brad Talton and the folks at Level 99 Games are scrambling to meet the unprecedented level of demand for this zany game that simulates competitive CCG play, so they’ve put the pedal to the meta and launched a new KS campaign. Newcomers can get the original goods, while current users can get a new hit — I mean, new promos, all with the recognizable illo work of L99 regular Fábio Fontes. (KS link)
• Back in early 2014, District Games, in collaboration with Eagle-Gryphon, successfully raised funds for a game called Warage (rhymes with “porridge”). Though the publishers only call it a “strategy card game”, it’s of the constructed-deck variety; a CCG-like without the collectibility. Now, designers Chiarvesio, Grasso, and Puglisi are bringing this game back from the void, as Warage: Reborn. The game wants to succeed in a scene that’s notoriously tough to make a dent in, but perhaps this time they’ve got the recipe juuuust right. (KS link)
Editor’s note: Please don’t post links to other Kickstarter projects in the comments section. Write to me via the email address in the header, and I’ll consider them for inclusion in a future crowdfunding round-up. Thanks! —WEM